The Land of Olives and Agave

Just got back from my first hammam trip.  What an interesting experience.  I went with three of my friends (Drew, Anna, Adelaide) and Drew's host mom, host little sisters, and the mom's friend.  We bought supplies before we went.  These included a mat to sit on, a little bucket for water, a loufa esque scrubber that you can put on your hand like a mitten, mushy brown soap, and henna powder that you mix with water and scrub on you.  We got there around four and didn't leave until seven. The dark, cavernous like rooms made the whole experience extra mysterious.  It was like bath time for adults. Interesting to see so many naked ladies, who are normally so covered.   We all had a lady scrub us, and the amount of dead skin that came off my body was absolutely disgusting yet awesome all at the same time.  I've never felt so clean and exfoliated in my life....I hope this lasts awhile, though it only costs about four dollars for entrance and a scrub down.
You (yes you, my faithful readers) should definitely consider not only going to one, but installing one in your own homes.

In other news.  Got to be a tourist this weekend, exciting stuff.  Took a tour bus to Meknes, Moulay Idriss, Volubilis and Fes.  We zoomed through Meknes and Moulay Idriss pretty quickly but they each were interesting in their own right.  Moulay Idriss was especially beautiful and I wish we could have explored this brillantly white old city tucked into the surrounding brown mountains.  From there we continued on to Volubilis, ancient Roman ruins (don't worry I took lotsof boring pictures of the rumble) This city was once massive and the rocks contrasted so nicely with the BLUE sky.
Riding the bus for so long we got to see a lot of the countryside.  Cacti with prickly pear fruit, olive trees, and agave plants were plentiful.  (I later found out in Fes that the agave is used to make silk....what a versatile plant)

We got to Fes around 6 and checked into our hotel.  I went with Drew and Grace to search for alcohol....probably one of the sketchier things I've done here but successful nonetheless.  We had to take a taxi to a big grocery store where the alcohol was tucked away in a separate room.  We were the only girls there and had to pay in that room and leave from a back entrance.  Trying to catch a taxi back was a little difficult, nerve racking and frustrating but we made it back to the hotel in time to shower and drink before dinner.
Dinner was quite the experience.  We went to a restaurant that was so clearly for tourists, there were constant performances (including musicians, belly dancers, a magician, and more dancers), alcohol, and couscous (for me, meat tagine for everyone else)
Then back to the hotel, drank some more and went to a somewhat seedy hotel bar/club where we drank expensive alcohol and danced.
The next day we took a tour of  Fes and its Medina, which is the largest in all of Africa.  It made Rabat seem so puny in comparison.  Had lunch in the medina and it was absolutely delicious.  Appetizers = olives and a bunch of various tapenades.  My meal was couscous again, but it had flavor so it was great.  After lunch we went to a shop that sold traditional clothing.  We all tried various things on and most of the girls eventually bought "modern jellahbas" (we all wore them to dinner that night) They are just one piece of fabric and tie in the back then wrap under the legs to create a jacket like effect, so comfortable and you feel like royalty in it.

Drank again before dinner just because we could, dinner was awful at the hotel, bad food, bad experience but lunch was so great that I didn't care.
Back to Rabat this morning, hammam and homework.  School tomorrow morning, Casablanca tomorrow night and Wednesday!